Hyundai Nexo gets 5 Star Euro NCAP rating

Hyundai’s Nexo has entered the history books by becoming the first fuel cell car to score an impressive 5 Star Euro NCAP crash rating.

Fully electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars are still relatively new products in the automotive market and it is always interesting to see how these vehicles perform on various different parameters. One such parameter is safety as these vehicles use different structural architecture (especially electric cars) in relation to conventional cars. And while we have seen the Tesla Model 3 come out with flying colours in the Euro NCAP crash test. This is the very first time a hydrogen fuel cell car was put through the test.

The car in question, Hyundai’s Nexo fuel cell is a large two-wheel drive SUV that comes fitted with a host of safety features ranging from autonomous emergency braking, active hood, 10 airbags and more. Along with its stable passenger compartment design, the Nexo came out with flying colours through the crash test by scoring an impressive 94 per cent for adult occupant protection despite the lack of knee airbags. Front occupants are cushioned by dual front airbags, side head airbags, side chest airbags and side pelvis airbags. Meanwhile, rear passengers get side head airbags alone. There is, of course, an airbag cut out switch for the front passenger seat.

The car scored 87 per cent in child occupant protection, 67 per cent for vulnerable road users’ safety and 80 per cent for safety assist features

Euro NCAP’s testing partner, Thatcham Research’s Director of Research, Matthew Avery commented on the Nexo’s crash test result by saying that this “should dispel concerns about how hydrogen fuel cell powered cars perform in a crash.”